


the one where soren is sick and claudia covers for him

by broyals



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Rival Stores AU, because apparently that's a thing now, tdp secret exchange 2018, the title is a work in progress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-23 22:44:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17089154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broyals/pseuds/broyals
Summary: This year’s “crazed soccer moms buy gifts for literally everyone” season was just beginning, and Rayla was dreading it more than ever.





	the one where soren is sick and claudia covers for him

**Author's Note:**

> im sorry if the characters are super inaccurately portrayed. 
> 
> this is for marcosthecrownguard on tumblr as part of the tdp secret exchange.

Rayla hated the winter holidays. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with the cold season in itself. While she preferred the sunny days outside and eating ice-cream that came with summer, she could perfectly well tolerate having to wear ridiculously big jackets every time she went outside. Oh no, the problem came with the “holidays” part. Most people found this odd when she told them. After all, doesn’t everyone love getting days off of school and presents and getting into the holiday spirit? Well, yeah. Unless you have to work at your uncle’s shop downtown during the season, also known as the busiest time of the year. 

The worst part? She was always, without exception, tasked with standing outside the shop with a bunch of flyers and trying to lure people into the shop, all the while a tall guy from her uncle’s rival store, Katolis, tried to do the exact same thing.

The guy, Soren something-or-other, insisted on making it a competition every year, to see who could bring in more customers. Rayla had won, without a fail, all three years ever since she started, yet he refused to admit it. He insisted he had let her win. They both knew this was untrue, and it annoyed Rayla to no end, but he still would not accept that he kept loosing to a girl three years younger than him.

This year’s “crazed soccer moms buy gifts for literally everyone” season was just beginning, and Rayla was dreading it more than ever. She walked out of Xadia, her uncle’s shop, flyers taking up her hands and a scowl taking up her face, and she turned to the neighboring store, waiting for Soren to come out.

The boy, however, was not the one to walk out of the shop, and in his place there was a girl that Rayla was sure she’d seen before but couldn’t quite remember where. An unfairly beautiful girl. Her hair was long and incredibly soft looking, with purple tips. Rayla wondered what running her hands through it would feel like.

“Hi!” The girl called, and Rayla suddenly realized she’d been walking towards her. And was now talking to her. And it was taking her way too long to reply. Fuck. 

“H-hair?” Rayla felt her cheeks redden, “No, wait, I meant hey,”

The girl laughed, loudly and unabashedly and the sudden speed up of Rayla’s heart was definitely not the product of that. Not at all.

The girl finished laughing soon enough but her smile stayed in place, bright as the sun, “You’re silly! I’m Claudia. You’re Rayla, right?”

What Rayla meant to do was say yes. What she did was screech something that might have been ‘Yeppers’, although she wasn’t entirely sure. Who even said that? 

Wait, but how did Claudia even know who she was? She asked the other girl about this.

“Right, should’ve probably explained that,” Claudia started, “Soren, my brother, is kind of really sick, so I’m covering for him with the whole luring people in thing. He told me something about “upholding his legacy” with a competition you two had? Or something?”

Legacy? Rayla had to stop herself from snorting. There was no legacy to uphold.

“You’re Soren’s brother?” She was quick to realize the mistake in wording, and her face went red once again, “I mean sister! Argh, I can't speak” 

Claudia was on another laughing roll, this one perhaps louder and longer than the last, and Rayla was still busy convincing herself that _No, the somehow endearing laugh is absolutely not the reason she feels like she’s floating._

“Yeah, I’m his sister,” She punctuated sister, then snorted, “And you’re his customer hunting archenemy, so I think we’ll get along just fine.”

Rayla found herself almost laughing in joy at that. Getting along just fine seemed like a really nice thing to aim for. Hopefully getting along more than fine. 

“Mhmm, have you ever done this before?” Keep the conversation going, Rayla.

“Not really, but it’s just telling people to check out the shop, right?”

“Oh, no. I mean, in essence, yeah, but you’re not gonna get anyone to come in if you just politely offer it to them. You have to convince them,” Rayla got an idea, “I could help you out?”

“Aren’t we supposed to be competing against each other, though?” Claudia tilted her haid to the side, and Rayla was fairly sure it was the most adorable thing she’d ever seen.

Right. That. They formed part of rival stores, probably shouldn’t be helping each other out.

Yet, helping her out one day probably wouldn’t cause any damage. Rayla shrugged, “Eh, who cares.”

Claudia then gave her a small smile. If any damage was caused, Rayla decided, it would definitely be worth it.

The pair of girls spent the following hour just talking to people who walked by, mainly with Rayla trying to show Claudia what was usually most attractive in a store and most likely to get people to want to come inside and check it out. Things like promotions, or new products. By the end of the hour, Claudia was essentially just doing it on her own. Rayla still accompanied her. Neither of them mentioned it.

It was then that Soren walked out of Katolis looking, well, healthy. Rayla frowned, then turned towards Claudia. The girl was doing some odd gestures towards her brother, but as soon as she realized Rayla was looking at her, her hands flew to her sides and she made an expression that could only be described as a nervous smile. 

Soren was soon standing next to the pair, and Rayla watched as Claudia failed to nod towards her in a way that didn’t look suspicious. Soren’s eyes filled with realization, and soon he was very obviously fake coughing into his arm.

“Oh, man!” He said, his voice almost theatrical, “I’m soo sick. I think I’ll have to stay in bed all week!” Another fake cough. 

“Oh, well,” Soren continued, “I suppose this means my dear, _single_ sister will have to cover for me all week. How very unfortunate.”

Oh. 

_Oh._

Watching the blush on Claudia’s face grow progressively brought Rayla to the realization of what was happening. Claudia had for some reason wanted to be the one to hand out flyers, and Soren was doing a very bad job at pretending to be sick in order for the younger girl to be able to do this. And maybe it was just hopeful thinking, but Rayla was fairly sure that reason was her.

Maybe the winter holidays wouldn’t suck so much this year.

**Author's Note:**

> come visit me on winterxadia on tumblr or brodigies on instagram!


End file.
